You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.  James 4:2 LSB

If we don’t have because we don’t ask, then we must ask ourselves why don’t we ask? Sadly, we don’t ask because we don’t want to give up our sin. We don’t want to let go of our bad habits.

We want the Lord, but we don’t want to pay the price. It’s not that it’s a price we can’t afford, we just don’t want to pay it. The price may mean giving up things in our lives that we have grown quite comfortable with. We can grow really comfortable in our sin. It’s kind of like an old t-shirt or an old pair of shoes we love. It may have stretched out or gotten too thin or have holes in it, but we still like having it around.

Our sin may make us uncomfortable at times, but we don’t want to walk away from it. We can’t imagine not having it to turn to.

I understand this because I felt that way for a long time. But when I got back into church and got involved in my church, my sin began to get in the way. It became uncomfortable like a really itchy sweater. I got to a point where I knew I had to let it go, it was doing too much harm. I gave it over to God and have never missed it since.

I committed to doing things His way and not my way. Let me tell you, His way is so much better.

We can’t keep one foot in the world and one foot in the church. We can’t surrender ourselves to Christ and hang onto our old sinful ways. We have to choose.

When we choose to serve Christ, we can ask, and we shall receive. This is what Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7. When we surrender ourselves to Christ, of course, our will lines up with His will. We want His will above our wants and desires. We pray for His will to be done as He taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to acknowledge God in all we do. We need to pray to Him about even the smallest of issues in our lives. We need to consult Him in all we do.

James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so we can be healed. He goes on to say that the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Our deliberate sin and our prayer life don’t go together. Confess your sins, pray for healing and then your prayers can be effective and bring about change.

If you are not praying because your sin has a hold on you, let it go. Give it over to God. Trust in Him to heal you and strengthen you against temptation. If you don’t ask, you don’t have.

Don’t not ask because you are too tangled up in your sin. Let the sin go and turn to God. Surrender to Him and trust in Him. Prayer brings about change. If you need to change, God will help you. Just ask.

Have a great day!